Below is an excerpt from R.E. Hargrave’s genre debut, a horrific short story not meant for the faint-hearted, SLOTS:

Although Nolan had already told me what he’d seen, witnessing it first hand on the tapes had my guts flip-flopping worse than the buffet gods. With no audio we couldn’t hear what the man in black was saying to them, but I could see Taylor’s clear adoration with him. She was doing that finger twirl thing with her braid and laughing a lot. She also kept leaning into the guy… almost stumbling. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was very wrong about the whole scene.

Hope had always been level-headed and aware of things. I’d never not seen her in total control of her surroundings. Leo replayed the footage and I watched closely, noting how Hope became more relaxed, less alert, as she sipped on the drink the man had given her. Taylor was giggling and falling into the mystery man while Hope stood by, giving a half-hearted laugh each time.

Hot tears pricked at the corner of my eye when I watched them walk off screen. The guy was practically carrying Taylor while Hope followed behind like an unknowing puppy. I had no doubts whatsoever that he’d drugged the girls.